The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-08
Special Contributors.
THE SOCIAL SABBATH.
BY REV. MARY j. DELONG.
(Neenah, Wis.,

We read a great deal in English his
tory of Magma Charta-the great char
ter of human rights-which the old
barons Of that country extorted from
King John, at Runnymede. The Sab
bath is the great universal charter of
rights conferred by the king of heaven
upon all creatures. These rights are
inalienable by any action of man what
soeyer. The Sabbath, as a divine insti-
tuition, religious observance, ,enshrines
a great and everlasting principle. AT
the heart of the Sabbath, as legal en-
actment, or as religious worship, sub
sists that holy law of love which is also
the heart of the gospel. The vital
spirit existing in the commandment to
remember the Sabbath day and keep it
holy, is the spirit of love to all crea-
lures whom God has made, especially
the weak, the helpless, the dependent.
In this commandment God has confer
red certain inalienable rights upon
those orders and classes of beings whose
rights are most liable to Infringement
through the selfishness and greed Of
men. A moments thought will prove
to us how carefully this garment of love
is thrown around the whole animate
cSeatioa1 and how in this law we see
shadowed forth t6e perfect, the divine
law of the kingdom of heaven.
The Sabbath was instituted to be a
sign between God and his people Is
rael; memento of his grace in deliv
ering them out of their Egyptian bond
age. But it was to be more than that.
1t was to be an inward subsection, a
spiritual surrender on the part of Israel.
For that day all strife, all unkindness,
all injustice and oppression were to
cease; while gentleness, mercy, pious
worship were to be uppermost in the
thoughts of all. These qualities of gen.
tleness, justice, brotherly kindness are
the very chiefest elements of the king
dom of heaven they are the fruits of
the Holy Spirit wherever it is made
manifest. "The kingdom of heaven
may be summed up as state of society
governed by desire existing in the
mind of each of its members to do as
much good as possible to every other
member" or to all the world. That
for which we are taught to pray in the
words, "Thy kingdom come," is rig
idly answered when each and every
one of us has passed wholly into that
state of mind, that inward subsection
to the law of love, which was enacted
in the fourth commandment amid the
awful mysteries of Sinai, and confirmed
in the fearful tragedy of Calvary.
But the Sabbath has been in eXis-
tence now for nearly forty centuries,
and the kingdom of heaven which it
foreshadowed, and toward which it led
the way, is not yet established. How
is it shown then that it is divinely
appointed means for its establishment?
If the world, through its influence, has
been for forty centuries moving toward
this heavenly condition of society, why
do we not see more encouraging signs
of the drawing near of the golden age
of love and justicep Christians of this
age are loudly called upon to face this
problem, and to answer it without at
tempting either to deny it, or to avoid
the force of it. If the Sabbath is such
a God-ordained instrumentality for
good if it were meant to be so potent
factor in the founding of the king
dom of God if it has now been rec
ognized institution in the earth for
forty centuries, why do we not see more
tokens of its power The first answer
to this question is: In order to accom-
plish full and fair results, men must be
co.workers with God. God does not
create any state of society de nOrO.
He simply provides ways for the reali-
zation of his kingdom, and the enlight-
ened understanding Of man must ac.
complish it by use of divine means.
Men and women, the best of them, have
never kept the Sabbath as they ought.
They are not keeping it now, in the
nineteenth century of Christian light
and knowledge, sacred 10 the uses for
which God gave it. Hence, it has not
done the work it ought to have done in
human society.
Another answer is, that there are
very marked indications of progress on